Marie Anne de Mailly-Rubempré, Marquise de Coislin
There is no doubt that while both Rosalie and Morphise rose above the ranks of all the secondary and tertiary (even quartiary? Is that a word?) mistresses of Louis XV and deserved to be highlighted, the case for Marie Anne is a little slimmer. Her time with the king was brief and not well documented, and probably the most famous anecdote is her crowing about her "hand of kings" one night at cards.
Apart from that, not much else is known about her, but I really had to include her. I had to! Another Mailly woman, and named Marie Anne at that - how could I not? And bringing her into the book was a way to bring back Diane, which I loved.
After her brief flirtation with the king, she had a long and quite exciting life, and even had an affair with King Gustv of Sweden when he visited France. There is a house in Paris that was supposedly given to her by the king (though not immediately after their affair as I portray in the book). She was back at Court for most of her life, and survived the Revolution, finally dying in 1817.
Apart from that, not much else is known about her, but I really had to include her. I had to! Another Mailly woman, and named Marie Anne at that - how could I not? And bringing her into the book was a way to bring back Diane, which I loved.
After her brief flirtation with the king, she had a long and quite exciting life, and even had an affair with King Gustv of Sweden when he visited France. There is a house in Paris that was supposedly given to her by the king (though not immediately after their affair as I portray in the book). She was back at Court for most of her life, and survived the Revolution, finally dying in 1817.
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This is the only portrait I could find of Marie Anne on the internet, and it's an odd one, the coloring especially, and it lacks finesse when compared to other portraits of the era. It's probably a (bad) copy of an original. I like her expression, though: she's narrowing her eyes and slightly pursing her lips, pretending she's understood, but she hasn't really, she's just good at hiding her confusion.... You can see portraits of some other members of her family here under Secondary Characters. |
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Here is Marie Anne's grave in Pere Lachaise in Paris! I like that someone had placed a plant on her grave, as well as a little statue of the Virgin Mary (bottom left). This photo was taken in January 2016. |
Writing Marie Anne's character was very fun, almost as fun as writing Diane in The Sisters of Versailles, and of course I made them out to be very similar.
I noted in the Afterword of The Rivals of Versailles, and I’ll note it again: she was probably not as silly as I made her out to be. No one could be, though if you were looking for the silliest girls on the planet, good candidates might be the sheltered pupils of the aristocratic convents of that era, with a slim grounding in anything outside their catechism, and with zero life skills and with zero expectations placed on them, other than looking pretty and bearing their noble husbands a son.
I'm not saying that all the girls were like that, but if you were a silly girl then Versailles in the mid 18th century was a good place to be!
I noted in the Afterword of The Rivals of Versailles, and I’ll note it again: she was probably not as silly as I made her out to be. No one could be, though if you were looking for the silliest girls on the planet, good candidates might be the sheltered pupils of the aristocratic convents of that era, with a slim grounding in anything outside their catechism, and with zero life skills and with zero expectations placed on them, other than looking pretty and bearing their noble husbands a son.
I'm not saying that all the girls were like that, but if you were a silly girl then Versailles in the mid 18th century was a good place to be!
